OK, not rather imposing, very imposing.

The Brotherhood of Steel Are Coming [Bethesda]

The reason for the delay of WipEout HD on PS3 has been due to the many improvements we have been making and the numerous features we've added to the game. These include: 8 reverse tracks, 4 extra ships, 2 alternative HUDS, 2 Player offline split screen and XMB Trophy support. We look forward to sharing WipEout HD with you very soon.

Regarding the speculation about health issues, we can assure you that we take consumer safety very seriously and monitor it very carefully.

That last line doesn’t entirely rule out the epilepsy stuff, but that first paragraph is making the wait sound worth it regardless.

Wipeout HD Delay Response Confirms Trophies & Splitscreen News [TVG]

I think we felt that E3 suffered by not having that grandeur and the theatrical shows that demonstrate this is a business that generates billions of Euros. It was more like a convention for plumbers. But behind closed doors, there was a decent amount of business going on.

If that's a comment on the amount of visible ass-crack on show, Ray, I can assure you, it's all the rage with the kids these days.

Interview: Ray Maguire, MD of SCE UK [TechRadar]

PC Version of GTA IV Confirmed (Updated Again) [IGN]

The rule change comes after new prison directives hit that prevent taxpayers' money from being used to buy games or consoles.

The change in rules come after the Government revealed that they spent more than £10,000 on 80 PlayStations and 15 XBoxes for youth offender institutions.

In a document including the rule changes, Michael Spurr, the Prison Service's director of operations, wrote: "These changes will ensure that prisoners may only earn access to games consoles by a positive demonstration of good behaviour and commitment to the requirements of their sentence plan.

"This is in line with government policy flowing from the Prison Policy Update paper of January 2008."

Prisoners Have Their Playstations Taken Away [Telegraph]

Based on Cartoon Network’s animated television series of the same name, TRANSFORMERS Animated, available exclusively on the Nintendo DS™, under license from Hasbro, delivers an exciting action-adventure experience. As they blast through DECEPTICON-controlled hoverbots, players attempt to solve challenging teamwork-based puzzles and race through the motorways of a futuristic Detroit, dodging on-coming traffic while seamlessly changing between robot and vehicle-form. Fans take control of all their favourite AUTOBOT characters, including OPTIMUS PRIME, BUMBLEBEE, BULKHEAD and PROWL, as they work together to reclaim the lost fragments of the Allspark before the DECEPTICONS intercept it and claim Cybertron as their own.

KEY FEATURES:
• Adventure beyond the animated series – Gamers experience TRANSFORMERS Animated in a whole new way in this action-adventure game based on the animated series and featuring several of the characters and environments fans enjoy.

• Play as your favourite AUTOBOT characters – Players instantly switch between AUTOBOT team members using their special skills and unique individualised weapons to overcome enemies and challenges. They can take down a boss with OPTIMUS PRIME, outrace foes with BUMBLEBEE, break down barriers with BULKHEAD or outmanoeuvre enemies with PROWL.

• It’s all about teamwork – Faced with a number of challenging side-scrolling puzzles, fans must utilise each AUTOBOT team member to solve problems. Working as a team and combining the abilities of each AUTOBOT is the key to recovering all three Allspark shards before the DECEPTICONS.

• Speed through the Detroit motorways – Gamers experience slot-car racing-inspired driving at high speeds as they race through a fictitious 22nd century Detroit in several fast-paced driving challenges.

Publisher: Activision Publishing, Inc.

Developer: Artificial Mind and Movement

Release Date: October 2008

While no gameplay was shown, Ecko revealed that the game would feature touch screen gesture controls, as well as incorporating text messages and phone calls in order to heighten the sense of immersion.

Comic-Con: Episodic ‘Dexter’ Game for iPhones [MTV Multiplayer]

Remember that you too can buy your way into the SF HD Remix beta test by sacrificing 800 Microsoft points on a copy of Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 on Xbox Live Arcade.

SFII Beta has Endurance - Extended to September 5th!! [Capcom Unity Blog]

We’re confident that we can work with the ESA to make this right. There are important meetings ahead that we think will be substantive and be productive in finding the right path forward.

Let’s invite the community. With the right planning, involving our biggest fans in E3 would bring back some of the raw passion the event has lost.

A stance sure to be popular with fans, but how to make it work without hampering access to the publishers for members of the press? I suppose it could be solved by keeping the meeting rooms we had this year, and adding a centralized show floor where the publishers can set up their fancy kiosks. Gamers can access the show floor proper, press still has easy access to their private showings and meetings, and in case we need a little fan reaction to the new games we've got an absolute sea of people to pull aside and give the old man-on-the-street treatment. As Crecente said earlier this week, reporting nirvana.

It sounds like a winning combination to me, though frankly it sounds like several of the other game conventions that have sprouted up during the decline of E3 over the past few years. Bring the life back to the show without making it just another show - now that's the challenge.

E3 - Go Big or Go Home [Peter Moore's Offical Blog via GI.biz]

I would say this gives PS3 owners a chance to read reviews, talk to their friends, and form some sort of conclusive opinion about whether or not to pick up the game or not, but after digging through review scores last month for the Frankenreview I still haven't decided whether or not I want to play it, and I bought Dog Island.

PS3 Alone in the Dark this November [Eurogamer]

All will be revealed soon, teases the game's publisher THQ. In the meantime, Tera will be at the company's booth at Comic-Con on Saturday to pose for photographs and give convention goers the completely false impression that they have a chance in hell of getting together with her.

Porn star joins Saints Row dev team [CVG]

The games included aren't bad for the price. You get Shinobi, Eco the Dolphin, Sonic and Knuckles, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, and several others, all for £29.99 - the price of a DS game. While I would have preferred they sneak a cartridge port on their for good measure, the game selection isn't bad and the price is right. Hit the jump for the full game list and additional details.

24th July 2008
News Release FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

Blaze International Goes Retro with The 16-Bit Blaze Handheld Console with 20 Built in SEGA Megadrive Games!

Handheld Console containing Sonic and Knuckles, Golden Axe, Shinobi, Ecco the Dolphin, Columns and 15 more superb retro titles for only £29.99 is set to take the market by storm!

At last! BLAZE are proud to announce they will be releasing their 16bit Megadrive handheld console in July 2008. The Blaze portable game player will be heading to a store near you from next month, so mums and dads, if you missed playing Sega Megadrive classics such as Sonic and Knuckles, Golden Axe, Shinobi and Ecco the Dolphin, you now have a chance to do so again... in all their portable glory... and all for the price of a single Nintendo DS game!

Other games to be hooked on again include Alex Kidd - Enchanted Castle, Alien Storm Altered Beast, Arrow Flash, Crackdown, Decap Attack, Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Ecco Junior, Flicky, Gain Ground, Jewel Master, Kid Chameleon, Sonic Spinball and Shadow Dancer.
...All very 90’s retro chic and far less damaging to your reputation than singing along to Color ME Bad.....Though not everything from the 90’s should make a comeback...are you listening Spice Girls?

Watch a demonstration video and see gameplay footage at http://www.segaretro.net

Now the serious stuff:

Features
Plug & play portable video game system
20 built-in 16-bit SEGA licensed games
Built-in speakers
Build in colour LCD screen
TV out connection
TV format: PAL
Requires:
3 x AAA batteries.
(Batteries not included)

Description
The Blaze Portable game console is a video game player, which is pre-loaded with 20 classic games from SEGA. There is therefore no need to buy game cartridges. The blaze Portable game player has an A/V connector and with the included cable the player can be connected to any TV set. Enjoy playing classic SEGA games anytime, anywhere with the new Blaze Portable video game player. Presented in stylish blister packaging.
Watch out for more BLAZE product announcements from BLAZE and ATGames soon....

Available now from all leading games stores and online at www.segaretro.net for just £29.99 (+ P&P)

Got a cheat video...Why not upload it to the nets largest cheat, tips and tricks community video channel www.youcheats.net – It’s like Youtube for game cheats!

Guitar Hero: World Tour Setlist A [Beautiful] Fake [Game Informer]

When you talk about games evolving over the years and becoming more like movies, in many ways, they've gone beyond movies," he said. "To do a movie is difficult, but it's linear. There's a beginning, a middle and an end, and that's it — you write a story.

In a videogame, you're writing many stories within the story. It's a totally different structure and a totally different philosophy of writing and, I think, a much, much more difficult one. I get the feeling more work goes into these videogames than even goes into the movies.

I marvel at the fact the games look as good, and in some cases better, as the most expensive movies. [Those] guys are just geniuses. Now you watch one of these games and it's like watching the greatest superhero movie, except you're part of it. It's indescribable.

Yep, Stan Lee is awesome. But we knew that.

Games Are Exceeding Movies [Eurogamer] [Pic]

Mike Patton [The AV Club] [Pic]

「Wii Music」発売日は10月16日に決定 [IT Media]

Putting aside the fact Yahoo are a few weeks late on the last time this story did the rounds, and seem to be running the story solely to take delight in linking a gaming console with human rights abuses, the fact the original Toward Freedom article repeatedly points the finger at Sony - and in particular the PlayStation 2 - is more than a little, well, strange.

To give you some background, the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Central Africa, is sitting on a reserve of a metallic ore known as coltan. From coltan, we are able to extract tantalum, which is used in all kinds of modern consumer electronics products, from PCs to mobile phones to DVD players to, yes, games consoles. Specifically, it's used to make resistors and capacitors. The DRC's coltan supplies constitute around 1% of the world's total, with the bulk coming from Brazil, Canada and Australia.

During the late 90s and early 00s, as war engulfed most of Central Africa, people also fought over the DRC's coltan supply. Just as they fought over diamonds, over people, over ideals, over religion and over land. It was during this fighting that, aside from the theft of coltan by the DRC's neighbouring states, some terrible atrocities took place in the DRC, including the enslavement of local children, who were sent into dangerous mines to extract coltan, which was then sold to overseas buyers to help further fuel the conflict.

These human rights violations took place. There's no doubt about this, nor is there any doubt that it was Western and Asian demand for consumer electronics that helped sustain the battles over the DRC's coltan. This isn't some political think-piece, however. We're just curious as to why someone would call this a "PlayStation War", when really, PlayStations had very little to do with it.

See, it's believed that the war was at its worst when the price of tantalum spiked between 1998 and 2001, due to "increased demand". Yes, that timeline coincides with the roll-out of the PS2. But come on. Tantalum is used to make personal computers and mobile phones and DVD players, the sales of which dwarf those of games consoles. 1998-2001 happens to be the time when DVD players first hit the market, when mobile phones first became common place and the internet hit the big time, bringing increased PC usage with it. It was those market conditions that increased demand, not the building of a few million PlayStation consoles.

Yet no PC manufacturers are named by Toward Freedom. Or by Yahoo, or by any other mainstream media outlet which reported this story. No mobile phone companies. Or any other consumer electronics manufacturers. They're not called the "Nokia Wars", or the "Samsung DVD Player Wars". They're called the "PlayStation Wars", regardless of how minuscule a contribution the PS2 actually made, because that's sexier, and will help get your story picked up by a game-fearing mainstream media.

Legendary Pictures co-financing "Gears of War" movie" [The Cut Scene]

Yes we are aware of the episodes and seasons that are available. We are working closely with our studio partners to add movie content, individual TV episodes (for rounding out seasons) and also adding whole new seasons. We have already published new content twice since launch last week and will continue to add more on a regular basis.

In other words, they're adding the episodes as they go, not uploading them as a single block. I know, if you're up to Buffy episode 4 and episode 5 is missing this must be simply infuriating, but you're going to have to be patient.

E3 was a strange beast this year. We had an extremely strong product showing, had some great meetings, and got our messaging over pretty strongly – all at an event that had all the atmosphere of a large hospital corridor...we’d like to see something that represents the fun, dynamic nature of the industry a little better without going back to the insanity that was E3 of old.

It's OK, Simon. We miss the booth crumpet as well.

‘E3 felt like a hospital corridor’ [MCV]

1. Nancy Drew: The Phantom Of Venice
2. Spore Creature Creator
3. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
4. Diablo Battle Chest
5. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff
6. WoW: Battle Chest
7. World Of Warcraft
8. The Sims 2 Freetime
9. WoW: The Burning Crusade
10. Call of Duty 4

[courtesy of NPD]

From our standpoint, we are aware of what the iPhone is doing. We certainly monitor it. But just like in the home console space we’re focused on doing what it is we do well...we’ve got a large installed base that we’re looking to drive even further and to sell software into. That’s our focus. We’ll see what happens with the iPhone but it is not something that will make us change our direction.

In other words, "la la la, I can't hear you, I made these earmuffs out of fat bundles of cash". Sony's response after the jump.

Senior marketing manager for PSP, John Koller:

I think indirectly it’s a competitor, but it’s indirectly just like the Zune is and the DS is to a degree because it doesn’t offer everything that the PSP does. In terms of the iPhone, it’s rooted in telephony, right? It’s in the name. The person is purchasing it primarily as a phone first and foremost, whereas a person buying a PSP is buying it first and foremost for games — over 70% buy it [PSP] just for games. So it’s a little bit of a different consumer base.

Ouch. He used the "Z" word. Take that, Apple.

iPhone Does Not Scare Nintendo And Sony Gaming Execs, They Say [MTV] [Pic: Gizmodo]

...in the early days of the Wii when it was first announced, we contemplated using the Wiimote for a drumming interface. We backed away from it because we found that the tactile element of actually hitting a surface when you're drumming is a fairly critical part to the visceral feel of actually playing drums. So when you're air drumming, it was a critical element you're missing in the experience. So that's one of the reasons we backed away from it and decided to build a custom drum peripheral.

Plus, you know. When you're drumming against a drum, you're a lot less likely to make a complete arse of yourself.

Interview: Alex Rigopulos on Rock Band 2, Competing with Guitar Hero and Evolving the Music Genre [GameDaily]

For the record, we have no plans to make any big announcements or huge reveals at PAX this year. While we will have some Halo 3 multiplayer stuff for you to check out, this is not going to be the "big announcement" many of our fans are clamoring for. Rest assured that when the time is right, we will be making announcements and talking about the stuff we're currently working on. At the moment we do have three distinct projects underway within Bungie - some familiar, some not. Some on a closer horizon, some quite far off.

Three projects, at least one of them a Halo project, noted, thanks. Oh, and for the disappointed, just because they're keeping mum at PAX doesn't mean they can't announce anything at Leipzig, which starts August 20.

Bungie @ PAX [Bungie]

“It all depends on how you treat them,” Rucinski said. If you have a strong relationship with female characters, they may help with missions. However, he told me that some of them are “bats–t insane” and can get you into trouble. “One may ask you to assassinate a high-level person,” he added. “Maybe that’s not something you want to do, but she’s really hot. But there are obvious repercussions.”

See? These are the sorts of decisions guys named Michael have to deal with every day. We don't want to kill, but the ladies are so hot! Alpha Protocol will let players get busy with women via Mass Effect style cutscenes, with achievements for being a total manslut as well as just saying no repeatedly. Achievements for having sex? Fox is going to have a field day.

‘Alpha Protocol’ Will Have Plenty Of Sex Scenes, ‘Ladies’ Man’ Achievement [MTV Multiplayer]

In addition to the new games, some older titles are going on sale. For one week only, purchase PAIN, PixelJunk Monsters, High Velocity Bowling, High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition, or Rocketmen: Axis of Evil for only $4.99.

Topping it all off is a PixelJunk Eden demo, Guitar Hero and Rock Band DLC, and a fine assortment of themes, videos, and wallpapers, including entries in each category for Capcom's Street Fighter IV. Definitely a good week to own a PS3!

PlayStation Store Update [Official PlayStation Blog]

The pack will be available tomorrow for 800 Microsoft points, or the price of your standard Xbox Live Arcade title. Is it worth it? Not a clue. A real ninja does not pay to go on missions - we get paid for them, and then kill the guy who pays us, taking the rest of his money.

More Ninja Gaiden II Missions for Your Pleasure! [Gamerscore Blog]

"We're certainly going for the clay look with this," Telltale Games CEO Dan Connors told The Associated Press. "Clay presents a challenge if you really get into the detail of it. For example, adding fingerprints in a medium where there aren't any is one of the discussions of how far we should go with the game's detail."

Wallace & Gromit have appeared in their own standalone games in the past, but Connors explains that the episodic nature of the upcoming game will capture the feel of a W&G short far better than a platformer starring the characters ever could, sentiments Strong Bad creators Mike and Matt Chapman echoed regarding their upcoming Telltale game series.

'Wallace & Gromit' to become episodic video game [Yahoo! News]

“Gamecock is committed to providing gamers with original titles from the most talented developers,” said Gamecock’s ‘El Presidente’ Harry Miller. “With the growth and acceptance of digital download, gamers now have greater access to original titles. By partnering with GameTap, we have another chance to ensure that gamers can find and play great games made by independent developers.”

Both current and future titles will be made available for the service, from the intentionally buggy Insecticide to the sexy spy action of Velvet Assassin. If that doesn't interest you, then I offer the director's cut headline for this story, "GameTap Gets Stuffed With Cock."

GAMECOCK MEDIA GROUP SHAKES HANDS AND SIGNS DEAL WITH DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, GAMETAP

New Partnership Makes Available Original Titles like Insecticide and Stronghold Crusader Extreme for Purchase and Play!

Cockpit, Austin, TX – July 24, 2008 – Video game publisher Gamecock Media Group announced today that it has finalized a new partnership with GameTap, the Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.) network that is a leader in digital game distribution and broadband entertainment. The partnership includes the rights for the publisher’s titles to be available for digital download in GameTap’s online store, as well as for subscription and ad-supported play.

“Gamecock is committed to providing gamers with original titles from the most talented developers,” said Gamecock’s ‘El Presidente’ Harry Miller. “With the growth and acceptance of digital download, gamers now have greater access to original titles. By partnering with GameTap, we have another chance to ensure that gamers can find and play great games made by independent developers.”

“We are constantly looking for ways to expand our massive library of games by working with innovative publishers,” said Ricardo Sanchez, vice president of content and creative director for GameTap. “Through this partnership, GameTap will now feature some of Gamecock’s best titles, including Insecticide and Stronghold Crusader Extreme.”

As part of the new agreement, future titles, such as Legendary and Velvet Assassin will also be available on GameTap. All games will be added GameTap’s online digital retail storefront at launch and later added to the subscription service and ad-supported website.

Ubi saw net sales up about 26% to €169 million ($263.65 million), while the publisher did €134 million ($209.05 million) over the same period last year. Its Petz, Imagine and MyCoach series from its "Games for Everyone" line also pitched in, representing a third of the publisher's total sales.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has sold 6 million units, Assassin's Creed has now sold 7 million units, and Rayman Raving Rabbids has sold 1.5 million units. Nonetheless, Ubi owes about 55% of its sales to its back catalog.

As it gets ready to publish Soulcalibur IVon Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 in Europe, along with Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in September, Ubisoft expects its full-year performance to come out a little bit higher than it expected — €1.02 billion ($1.59 million) instead of €1 billion ($1.6 billion). It also plans to announce more casual titles for Wii and DS that it says will help with sales.

We have a dynamic market, a good lineup, and a good start for the first three months," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.
All this means we can have a very good year for the company."

The 800 point game will include five additional game modes: Waves, which they say has been supercharged and tweaked; Pacifism, which has been promoted from achievement to full game mode, and new modes King, Deadline, and Sequence. All of the modes can be played solo or with up to four players on a single console. The multiplay allows for both co-op and competitive modes. You can also play co-pilots where one person drives and the other shoots.

Sounds like you're getting a lot for your Microsoft scrip.

In January when Hasbro first began to fuss about Scrabulous, many were perplexed — wasn't the prolific Facebook board game an homage to the original, arguably even a sort of viral marketing? But today's infringement suit announcement comes just after Electronic Arts, through its partnership with Hasbro, launched its own official Scrabble game on Facebook, a launch no doubt complicated by the existence of an unlicensed, competing game.

Hasbro says Scrabulous infringes on its intellectual property rights, and is suing creators Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla, while requesting that Facebook pull the application immediately.

Full announcement follows the jump.

Hasbro, Inc. Files Infringement Suit Against Creators of Scrabulous Game Application
Suit Filed in Southern District of New York Centers on Application’s Infringement of Hasbro’s SCRABBLE Intellectual Property Rights in the U.S. and Canada

PAWTUCKET, R.I.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS) today filed suit against the creators of the Scrabulous game application, which infringes on the Company’s SCRABBLE intellectual property rights.

In addition, Hasbro has delivered to Facebook, which hosts the Scrabulous game, a notification of copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (or the “DMCA”) requesting that they remove the Scrabulous application in the U.S. and Canada as soon as possible.

“Hasbro has an obligation to act appropriately against infringement of our intellectual properties,” said Barry Nagler, Hasbro’s General Counsel. “We view the Scrabulous application as clear and blatant infringement of our SCRABBLE intellectual property, and we are pursuing this legal action in accordance with the interests of our shareholders, and the integrity of the SCRABBLE brand.”

The suit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York earlier today, names Scrabulous creators, Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla, and RJ Softwares as the defendants.

Hasbro has a strategic alliance with Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) to create digital games based on a huge array of Hasbro’s intellectual properties. As part of this alliance, Electronic Arts launched a legitimate version of SCRABBLE for Facebook earlier this month. This represents the first of many Hasbro game properties slated to launch on social networking sites later this year.

“Hasbro and Electronic Arts are very pleased to offer fans an authentic SCRABBLE experience on Facebook, which is complementary to EA’s full-range of SCRABBLE offerings — from the cell phone, to the iPod, and now, social networking,” said Mark Blecher, General Manager, Hasbro Digital Media and Gaming. “Hasbro and EA have worked diligently to provide a great game play experience on Facebook, and we are confident that fans of the game will welcome a genuine experience highlighted by top of the line graphics, strong technical support, and of course, classic SCRABBLE game play.”

“After playing with EA's version of SCRABBLE on Facebook, I have no doubt that SCRABBLE players in the U.S. and Canada will absolutely love the authentic game play and overall experience,” said John D. Williams Jr., Executive Director of the National SCRABBLE Association (NSA). “I am particularly pleased that EA's version of SCRABBLE offers such a simple and intuitive interface which will allow players to jump right in and start playing. Between the classic board game, Facebook, Pogo, the iPod and the iPhone, our members can now play their favorite game virtually anytime, anywhere.”

Hasbro, Inc. is a worldwide leader in children’s and family leisure time products and services with a rich portfolio of brands and entertainment properties that provides some of the highest quality and most recognizable play and recreational experiences in the world. As a brand-driven, consumer-focused global company, Hasbro brings to market a range of toys, games and licensed products, from traditional to high-tech and digital, under such powerful brand names as TRANSFORMERS, PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER, CRANIUM and WIZARDS OF THE COAST. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at www.hasbro.com. (C)2008 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Funcom suggests you allow your friend to use your game DVDs, as that not only allows you to spend quality time together, but also helps them avoid the $2.99 charge they'll incur from downloading the trial client (though they do get an extra 3 days to make up for the cost).

The key word there is this ‘lifecycle’ or ‘this generation’. As you probably know, we’re working on a ten-year lifecycle, we’ve said that since day one and we’ve proven it with PSOne and PS2. I guess Don is saying they’re also going to be embarking on a ten-year lifecycle, then? If they are then that’s terrific, but I’ve never seen them manage it before. Last time I checked, the Xbox went by the wayside four or five years after launch.

Last time I checked, the Xbox went by the wayside four or five years after launch. On the other hand, if he’s saying that Microsoft will outsell us after five years, if he calls that this generation, then he’s saying he’s going to exit the 360 business within five years. I’m not exactly sure when he says ‘this lifecycle’ or ‘this generation’ what standard he’s using — five years, 10 years, I don’t know.

Don Mattrick is obviously on Don Mattrick Time. You can't put a time-frame on DMT, you just can't.

Hirai on PS3... Pt. 1 [MCYVK]

We’re not trying to fix anything EA did wrong, because that’s just what they did. I’m sure the series pissed off a lot of gamers over the last few years as the games started to go downhill, but we have no control over that.

Hope your body can cash those cheques your mouth's writing, Treyarch!

‘Second-rate James Bond games a thing of the past’ [MCV]

Real racing in the virtual world [BBC, via Gizmodo]

I think we got more than 12 months’ work done, and others went on an extended vacation. Hopefully they got some good vacation photos, because they sure weren't showing up at work... Of course I'm going to be biased, but so far what I've heard is that Sony and Nintendo have disappointed. And Microsoft has been leading, innovating and driving a very comprehensive global programme... We're building momentum and we're on a scale that no other consumer electronics company or entertainment company has been able to achieve in nine years. It's been a very good show and I'm very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish. I think there was a lot of good work, a lot of innovation and a lot of news from us.

Oh, Don.

Mattrick: Rivals have been slacking off [MCVUK]

There's lots of issues about price points and models and the benefits to publishers — you have different developers that do things on different platforms. It certainly interests us, and it's one of many things we talk about, the fact that we have a service that spans both platforms opens up all kinds of opportunities like that. When we feel like we have all of the right pieces together, and we have partners who tell us they want to do that, you can expect that it's something we'll look at, much more closely.

Interesting, no?

Games for Windows Head Kevin Unangst Explains Move to Free Live [1UP]

Developers know they have to amortize that investment over a global marketplace and the best place to do that is on a PlayStation format. Because if you look at the global footprint, PlayStation 3 dominates in Japan where the 360 is really irrelevant. In Europe, the PlayStation 3 is already past the 360. And in the United States you have a dogfight...So back to the third-party community, they’re looking at what’s going on, they’re realigning their development resources to exploit PS3 and I think they understand that if they want to have a global return on their investment, PlayStation 3 is the only place they’re going to get it.

Man's got a point, a point that - as the PS3 begins to slowly, inevitably pull away from the 360 in Europe - will only get sharper!

Sony: ‘Final Fantasy XIII’ Going To XBox 360 Creates ‘Jump Ball’ [MTV]